2005 European GP – Alonso wins after last lap heartbreak for Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen retired in the last lap of the European GP on this day in 2005 after his front right suspension broke after severe vibration due to flat spot on his tyre as Fernando Alonso secured fourth win in the first seven races.

Raikkonen has convincingly won the last two races in Spain and Monaco, although he still had 22 points less than Alonso, but the fight for the title seemed to be on as Alonso and Renault dominated in the first four races.

Heidfeld won his first and only F1 pole position in the BMW Williams FW27 thanks to less fuel in the car than the second-placed Raikkonen while Alonso was sixth in Renault with even more fuel behind the fifth Montoya in McLaren.

The start had to be repeated because of Fisichella who stalled on the grid and the drivers started another warm-up lap while the race was shortened by one lap.

Raikkonen beat Heidfeld at the start and moved to the lead, Webber dropped from third to fifth while Alonso was fifth at the end of the first lap. Heidfeld was the first to enter the pits already in the lap 12, six laps before Raikkonen while Alonso stayed five more laps.

After the first pitstops, Raikkonen was four seconds ahead of Heidfeld and 18 seconds ahead of Alonso, but lost concentration in the lap 30 when he went wide in Ford chicane and Heidfeld took the lead before entering the pits for the second time. Raikkonen damaged the bargeboards behind the front wheels and Alonso reduced his advantage by four seconds.

Few laps later, Raikkonen blocked the front right wheel while lapping Villeneuve in Sauber, who was ignoring the blue flags, and damaged his tyre, which would later cause big vibrations. Alonso also made a mistake after driving the fastest lap of the race in lap 44 and lost about seven seconds in the Dunlop corner.

Eight laps before the end of the race, Raikkonen was 7.4 seconds ahead of Alonso, but the right front wheel vibration was getting stronger and the two laps before the end his advantage dropped to 2.7 seconds.

McLaren decided to gamble and not change the tyre (which was allowed because it was clear that it threatened to blow) because in that case they would lose the victory to Alonso who already had a big advantage in the drivers’ championship.

The gamble didn’t pay off as Raikkonen had an suspension failure at the start of the last lap, 1.5 s in front of Alonso, on the braking for the first corner, after which he almost hit Button at BAR Honda. Alonso celebrated in front of Heidfeld and Barrichello and increased his advantage to 32 points.